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Before the 1800’s, orphanages in America were uncommon. Children who lost parents were
taken in by family members or neighbors. In 1729 an orphanage was created by Catholic nuns in
Natchez, Mississippi in order to house and care for the children of settlers killed by Indians. This
orphanage was a rarity.
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With the early 1800’s huge orphanages were established housing as many as 1,000 orphans at a
time. Most of the children housed in these orphanages came from the slums or the most
impoverished parts of the city. These establishments were primarily located outside of the city.
All the children were labeled orphans although many had a parent that had placed them there
temporarily. Some parents paid a small amount of money monthly to keep their children safe.
Those that could eventually took their children home while others never returned. Most children
were never to see their families again.
The conditions in the orphanages were poor. Food consisted mainly of potatoes or a watery
vegetable soup with more water than vegetables. Misbehavior was dealt with harshly. Children
who misbehaved were kept in tiny rooms for hours at a time or sent to bed without supper.
Children were frightened and used to fighting with their fists to survive. Punishment was
inevitable.
Describe the conditions in the orphanages. Compare those conditions with your own life.
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There was massive overcrowding as immigrants flooded into America and people moved from
farms to industrial jobs in the cities. Families were crowded into small one room apartments and
with the demand for living space being high rent was pricey. There wasn’t enough housing for
the hoards of people and there was widespread poverty. Oftentimes, two to three families shared
one apartment. Some families lived in cardboard boxes or slept in coal cellars and roamed the
streets during the day. There were so many people to fill the industrial jobs that wages were kept
low. If someone died doing the dangerous work required, there were countless others ready to fill
the position.
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Children were sent into the streets to earn money for the family. They worked in factories,
peddled matches on the street, shined shoes, sold newspapers, picked up coal dropped by the coal
carts, or ran errands. Many children begged in the streets, even some who were barely old
enough to walk.
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Describe living conditions in the slums. What did children do in order to make money?
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People worked as much as 10 to 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. They simply couldn’t keep up
that pace long enough to sustain a family. Factory work was often dangerous and workers were
killed leaving families without a bread winner. The remaining parent turned to the orphanages to
care for their child while they attempted to get back on their feet.
Many people became sick due to hunger, malnutrition, and diseases leaving more children
uncared for. Children were left on church steps to be found and cared for by some kind soul.
Older children of 6 or 7 were pushed out of the family to make room due to the birth of a new
baby. Homeless children slept in doorways, on heating grates, under bridges, or in empty
buildings and makeshift shacks. They rummaged through the trash for food or stole when
possible.
What do you think you would do under these circumstances? Would you steal? What if younger
siblings depended on you?
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Between 1854 and 1929, two charitable institutions, The New York Foundling Hospital and The
Children’s Aid Society, went about the business of placing approximately 250,000 children in
homes throughout the country. When Charles Loring Brace, founder of The Children’s Aid
Society, arrived in New York City in the 1850s, it was estimated that 30,000 abandoned and
homeless children roamed the streets of New York City. Brace was only twenty-two when he
began work in a mission house in the worst slum in New York City.
Brace had a plan. The children were to be transported to new homes aboard trains that much later
were referred to as Orphan Trains. The process was originally called “placing out” and became
the forerunner of the foster care program in America.
Charles Loring Brace was determined to match these children with homes mainly located on
farms and country businesses like dry good stores, livery stables, and shops in order to provide
loving, supportive environments where children could receive education, learn a trade and
become a useful part of society. He believed a strong family life and some form of training was
the answer to the problem.
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Brace saw this as a much more favorable means to end the overcrowding of the squalor infested
city streets and the inhumane conditions of orphan asylums and prisons. Children as young as
seven could be thrown into prison for stealing. Stealing was punishable by hanging in the city
and droves of children attended the events. Children 12 years and older could be put to death.
Many children jumped at a chance to go west aboard the trains to escape the intolerable
conditions of homelessness.
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What would a child gain from being aboard an Orphan Train?
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Western pioneers could benefit from the added labor provided by children raised on a farm. "In
every American community, especially in a Western one, there are many spare places at the table
of life," Brace wrote. "They have enough for themselves and the stranger too." He wanted to
meet the need for housing, medical care, warm clothing in winter, good, plentiful food, and
especially schooling.
Brace wrote after establishing The Children’s Aid Society in 1853:
Most touching of all was the crowd of wandering little ones who immediately found their way to
the office. Ragged young girls who had nowhere to lay their heads; children driven from
drunkards’ homes; orphans who slept where they could find a box or stairway; boys cast out by
stepmothers or stepfathers; newsboys, whose incessant answer to our question , “Where do you
live?” rang in our ears. “Don’t live nowhere!” Little bootblacks, young peddlers…pickpockets
and petty thieves trying to get honest work; child beggars and flower sellers growing up to enter
courses of crime…passed through our doors, telling their simple stories of suffering, and
loneliness, and temptation, until our hearts became sick.
Charles Loring Brace wrote, “Found one room not more than twelve foot by ten with two women
and five children. The boy, Peter Casey, would like to go to the country, but the mother said she
would rather die than part with him. In general, the mothers do not like to part with their
children, even to get them in much better situations."
"May 19th, 1854. At dusk, I found a girl in the Sixth Street begging. Gave her a loaf of bread and
followed her home. This little girl, nine years old, without a bonnet, barefooted and thinly clad,
is sent out every day to beg for money.”
"In the evening, at twelve o'clock, went down to the coffee cellars where the newsboys
congregate. They were not more than ten or twelve years old, yet they had all the manners of old
roués, drinking their coffee, smoking and talking of gambling.”
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"Visited the Eleventh Ward in the afternoon. Five thousand children throng the streets at all
times.”
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Brace read from an orphan’s diary: "When Mother was dying, she warned me against going to
live with strangers. I became a singing girl. People said I had a good voice. I used to sing, in the
beginning, to keep away those sad thoughts. But soon I made use of my voice for a living."
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[Susan Galbraith] "I go on board the boats and sing and I gather as much money as I can. I have
no other way of getting along. Sometimes I make very little by it, sometimes nothing. All the
night, I was out in the street and no one spoke to me or asked me who I was."
Conditions on the early trains were bleak but as the program grew the transportation conditions
improved. Children left the past behind, even those who still had parents that simply could not
afford to keep them. They were all considered orphans and it was extremely rare that the children
ever saw their family again.
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The railways were the best means of transportation that Brace had to achieve his goal of uniting
homeless children with farming communities out West. Trips usually lasted two days to a week
or more. Trips could be dangerous as seen in a letter a Society Agent wrote to her mother.
Letter Written by CAS Agent Anna Laura Hill to Her Mother
Decorah, Iowa
April 2, 1913
Dear Mamma,
The days are slipping by so rapidly for me, but I presume you have been reading so much about
the floods that it has seemed a long time since you heard from me.
Alice wrote Mate on the way or I should have written before. We certainly had a strenuous trip.
All went well until we reached Cleveland and found that city about flooded; from there on to
Fort Wayne we had an awful experience. We went from Cleveland to Bellevue on the Nickel
Plate, the railroad we were on from Buffalo.
There they pulled the train on a side track and said we would wait for orders and might be there
for days, for all reports that could be obtained from the West were very discouraging. We waited
until two other trains came in from the East, then we took on the passengers from these trains
and proceeded westward, but over the Baltimore and Ohio, for the Nickel Plate was washed out
entirely west of Bellevue. While at Bellevue we could see the men and boys going about town on
rafts and many houses entirely surrounded by water. We were in constant danger for twenty-six
hours and such awful places that we went thru and over, submerged tracks, water on both sides
and terrible rivers. We crossed a river at midnight. They sent a work train and 200 workmen
ahead of us, they worked about two hours making the bridge more secure. They put in 8 carloads
of rock and sandbags, then took two engines, across, and then we went over. It was an anxious
time for everyone on that train, not a berth was occupied that night. I shall never forget the awful
roar of that mighty torrent; just as we were in the center there was a sudden jar. I closed my
eyes, I couldn't look, for I thought it was all over and we were going down.
But GOD continued to look after his helpless little ones and HE has in all the years of the past
history of the Children's Aid society. There was many a prayer offered that night on that train,
and by men who had not mentioned God's name before in many a day.
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There were nine houses washed down next to the bridge that we could see distinctly thru the
storm, for, to add to the horror, the ground was covered with a heavy snow and a terrible sleet
storm was falling accompanied by a biting wind. In these houses were people whom the
lifesavers were working desperately to rescue. There was a lite (sic) in one house. Think what
must have been the feelings of those people held prisoners in those awful places. I hope I shall be
spared witnessing such a scene again. The train crew were with us 26 hours with no relief.
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In all my experiences I have never seen train men that would talk about any trouble or accidents,
but these men were under such tension for so long they had to relieve themselves by talking with
us.
Early that morning (Wednesday) the conductor brought me a paper and talked about it. He
said,"Do you notice how unnatural the atmosphere seems? There is something awful ahead of
us." And I certainly thought of his remark many times in the next twenty-four hours that
followed. Just as we were ready to cross the worst river, he came in and said,"We are going to
try it now but GOD alone knows the results." We, of course, were a day late getting to Decorah,
but in spite of that we have done well, but roads are muddy, which makes the work slow. I wrote
to Mr. Brace from Chicago telling him about the flood. I had a letter from him today saying that
my letter was very thrilling and should be printed in Elmira's best paper. I didn't realize that I
embroidered it any, but I had just gotten out of it and that was rather fresh in my mind.
What do you hear from Harry? Was he in the flood? I have tried to go on the principle that "No
news is good news" and feel that is alright for I haven't heard a word from him for a long time. I
thought I would hear from him before this. I know you have been busy, but Bess could write.
Tell me what you did down at Burlington.
I shall be here over Sunday and then go to Kansas. We have taken a three-week-old baby born
here and I do not know yet what we will do with her. Will have to wait and help Mrs. Comstock
out with it.
Don't forget that I now have a P.O. Box #26, Topeka, Kansas, and will have all mail forwarded
from there.
Love to all, and write soon.
Anna Laura Hill
Trains would eventually arrive in towns and the children were displayed in churches, city halls,
opera houses, and schools. People came from miles around to see the children or just to watch
the placing out process.
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On the next page is a copy of a handbill that was distributed in towns and villages to announce
the coming of an orphan train.
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People haggled over the children. Jessie Feit, age four, was an adorable little girl with tight black
curls and a winning personality. Her foster parents were an elderly couple who eventually abused
her to the point that the law removed her from the home. On the day that she arrived on the train,
other couples offered to buy her. They were turned down because they weren’t Catholic and
Jessie was being placed by a Catholic organization, The Foundling Hospital. Perhaps Jessie
would have fared better with one of the other affluent couples. As Jessie grew up under the harsh
conditions set by her foster family, she would see these early strangers who offered to buy her
and would wonder how life would have been different. They were always kind to her unlike her
foster family.
Hastings Hart wrote: "November 7th, 1883. I was a witness of the distribution of forty children
in Minnesota. The children arrived at about half past three P.M. and were taken directly from the
train to the court house. Mr. Matthews set the children one by one before the crowd and gave a
brief account of each. Applicants for the children were then admitted in order behind the railing
and rapidly made their selection. If the child gave the assent, the bargain was concluded on the
spot. It was a pathetic sight to see those children, tired young people, weary, travel-stained,
confused by the excitement, peering into those strange faces.
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The children were viewed and examined. Some were inspected for strong muscles and healthy
teeth. Many were poked and prodded like cattle. The children were to provide a cheap form of
labor and some were worked unmercifully.
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The pioneers providing the homes were supposedly screened beforehand but sometimes this was
overlooked in favor of quick placements. Children were told they didn’t have to stay with a
prospective family and some returned to The Children’s Aid Society and continued to be placed
until a better match was secured. Brothers and sisters were often separated since families usually
only wanted one child. Some children were taken in as family members while others were
indentured or contracted to work for a family until they reached the age that they could go out on
their own. Most brothers and sisters never saw one another again.
There were your rare success stories. Two orphans, John Green Brady and Andrew Burke,
became governors of Alaska and North Dakota respectively but not all orphan stories ended so
well. Many children were abused, treated as slaves, and simply ran away.
Brace supported his program through donations from wealthy people, the articles he wrote, and
the speeches he was paid to give. He believed the West was populated by good people who were
kindhearted and generous. Such was not always the case.
In 1853, 164 boys and 43 girls were sent out to farming areas in New York and neighboring
states. Brace believed these placements were a success. Adults working for The Children’s Aid
Society and The New York Foundling Hospital followed up with the placements following that
first run. They inspected homes to see if the conditions were safe. They checked to see if the
foster parents and children were happy with the placements. Sometimes they had to remove a
child because conditions were not the best. Some children were threatened by foster parents into
saying conditions were good. Children were afraid of being beaten so they put on a convincing
act.
In 1854, 46 more children between the ages of 10 and 12 were sent to a small town in Michigan.
Every child had a home within a week. More trips west followed.
The New York Foundling Hospital, created a system where babies could be dropped off. It began
in 1869 by the Sisters of Charity under the leadership of Sister Irene. A cradle was placed near
the front door where babies could be safely dropped off. Oftentimes notes were pinned to the
children telling of the death of a wife, parents who had fallen to misfortune, and other sad stories.
The New York Foundling Hospital was extremely organized. Working through parishes in other
states, they matched babies to Catholic families applying for a child. A number would be
assigned to a baby or toddler that matched the number held by a family on the other end of the
trip. Photos were taken by new foster parents and sent back to The New York Foundling
Hospital to verify that the children had indeed arrived safely.
The early Orphan Trains were filled with homeless children from off the street, from prison, but
most of them came from the orphanages. Parents signed over all rights to their children in order
to secure them a better future. Some children came to the orphanages asking to be placed on the
Orphan Trains.
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One mother, Mary Ann Moxley, wrote, "This is to certify that I am the mother and only legal
guardian of Hattie Moxley. I hereby freely and of my own will agree for the Children's Aid
Society to provide a home until she is of age. I hereby promise not to interfere in any
arrangements they may make."
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Between 1854 and 1929, as many as 250,000 children from New York and other Eastern cities
were sent by train to towns in midwestern and western states, as well as Canada and Mexico.
What was the average number of children “placed out” each year?
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Each orphan story is as distinctive as the next. The following are excerpts from some of those
stories.
Elliot Bobo
"I had the whole future ahead of me, and I didn't know what to expect."
-- Elliot Bobo
Elliot Bobo was taken from his alcoholic father's home, given a small cardboard suitcase, and put
on board an "orphan train" bound for Arkansas. Bobo never saw his father again. He was one of
tens of thousands of neglected and orphaned children who over a 75-year period were uprooted
from the city and sent by train to farming communities to start new lives with new families.
Elliot Bobo was eight years old when he was put on a train. His mother had died when he was
two. "Far as I know, my father hit the bottle pretty heavy, and they took us away from him." The
Children's Aid Society gave him the small suitcase he still has. "I had all my possessions in there,
which wasn't much. No shoes, just a change of clothes."
Excerpt from an interview of Elliot Hoffman Bobo: I've kept this suitcase as a souvenir all these
years. Each one of us had one. And I don't suppose it was very expensive, not over a couple of
bucks. I had all my possessions in there, which wasn't much, just clothes-- no shoes, just a
change of clothes. I had the whole future ahead of me and I didn't know what to expect, but I
didn't want to stay in the orphanage.
He did not know--no one knew--where he or the other children would wind up.
Early placement into new families was casual at best. Handbills announced the distribution of
cargoes of needy children. As the trains pulled into towns, the youngsters were cleaned up and
paraded on makeshift stages before crowds of prospective parents.
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Elliot Bobo remembers the ordeal: A farmer came up to me and felt my muscles. And he says,
"Oh, you'd make a good hand on the farm." And I say. "You smell bad. You haven't had a bath,
probably, in a year." And he took me by the arm and was gonna lead me off the stage, and I bit
him. And that didn't work. So I kicked him. Everybody in the audience thought I was
incorrigible. They didn't want me because I was out of control. I wasn't very comfortable up on
that stage because I didn't know where I was going to go. And I was old enough to realize that
there could be a lot of mistakes made.
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I was crying there in the chair by myself and a school teacher came up there and she says, "I'd
like to take you home with me and play with my boy for a week. And if nobody wants you then,
why, then we'll have to send you back to New York."
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An elderly couple in their sixties was contacted by this school teacher. And they had no children,
never did have. They had a stillborn about thirty years previous. So he put me on my-- on his lap
in this school teacher's home and-- and got acquainted with me. And he said, "If you go home
with me, I'll buy you a pony and a bicycle and a puppy."
So I thought that was great so I went home with them and I finally got the best home of the
whole bunch. But I always thought that biting and kicking did me a lot of good. Best day of my
life!
There was one boy. I refused to go home with this farmer, too. He took this other boy, Albert-maybe I shouldn't name him, but they kept him on the farm, wouldn't send him to school, worked
him eighteen hours a day in the field and he just lost his mind. And he died at an early age, less
than thirty years of age. And he finally ran away from home, but it was too late. They wouldn't
let him go to town and see people, afraid he'd tell them how badly he was treated. And he never
saw anybody. I saw him about two times during the whole time he was there, about ten years. I
just saw him twice and he was afraid to talk to me. And I couldn't-- I couldn't help him. I didn't
know enough to help him. But my dad always thought that he was abused, so he was afraid to
talk about it, afraid he'd be abused some more.
The first day of school, they took me to the third grade. I could hear whispers among the kids.
"There's an orphan and he's going to be in our class. And they say you don't know what his
background is." They kind of dodged me and said, "Well, he's an orphan. We don't want to have
anything to do with him," because they wasn't used to that. They were farming families and
well-knit families, most of them.
Referring to a photo he had Elliot said, “This is the picture-- this is the knickers and the highlaced boots and the blouse that I wore on the train. And this is the picture I first had. I was eight
and a half then. I'd been with my (foster) parents for six months and they dressed me up for the
picture. My mother wanted it when I was all dressed up so she could show it to her relatives. She
just wanted to show me off! My father couldn't wait till he could buy my first pony. He just went
all over the country trying to find a pony for me. He was a very successful merchant. He owned a
hardware store. He was president of the bank. And he owned two farms. I never did work on a
farm. He never asked me to.
I never had a spanking. Never had a spanking of any kind or correction. My dad would put me
on his lap and say, "I want you to be a good boy. And you made some mistakes today and I want
you to be a good citizen." And he never did spank me. It got next to me, you know? He wanted
to give me a good start. The kindness is what got next to me. He saved my life. I tried to live the
life that Alvin Bobo wanted me to live and I think I have.
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What do you think the first farmer wanted Elliot to become? Was Elliot wise about biting and
kicking the farmer?
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Compare Elliot’s life with his foster family to Albert’s life.
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How did Elliot’s foster family treat him? Was this a successful experience?
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Hazelle Latimer
Hazelle Latimer was sent West when she was eleven years old.
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My mother and I were very close because I was all she had and she was all I had. On January 7th
of 1918, my mother came to the school and she had a suitcase. She was going to go and have
tests taken care of, see why she was having these awful headaches. And that was the last I saw of
her.
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I'd just finished eating and this matron came by and tapped us along the head. "You're going to
Texas. You're going to Texas." Well, some of the kids, you know, clapped and laughed. When
she came to me, I looked up. I said, "I can't go. I'm not an orphan. My mother's still living. She's
in a hospital right here in New York." "You're going to Texas." No use arguing.
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I didn't cry. I guess I was too angry to cry. We were going too far too fast.
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That was an ordeal that no child should go through. They pulled us and pushed us and shoved us.
And this old man-- I had never seen anything like anybody chewing tobacco. I knew nothing
about it. This old man came up and his mouth was all stained brown and I thought, well, he'd
been eating chocolate candy or something. Then he said, "Open your mouth." I looked at him
and he said, "I want to see about your teeth." I opened my mouth and he stuck his finger in my
mouth and just rubbed over my teeth. And his old dirty hands, I wanted to bite, but I didn't.
We got to a house and this nice old lady met me and says, "You look all right." Well, they had
already had their supper, so she fixed a plate for me and this big goblet of milk. And I tasted it
and I said, "It's sour." She heard it. She could hear that. She said, "It is not. I churned it fresh this
morning." Well, I still didn't know what she was talking about. I said, "Well, I don't like it." She
said, "You don't have to have it." Anyway, she took the glass away.
And her daughter-in-law was waiting for her husband to come out because the war was over now
and her husband was stationed at Langley Field, Virginia, and he would be home soon. So I
could sleep with her that night. And that was really a night. She told me just exactly why those
people wanted me, that she would be gone and I was growing up and I would be big enough to
take care of that house. And that's all they wanted with me, but she wouldn't be there to help me.
And I said, "What can I do?" She says, "Go back to the hotel and tell them that this is just not for
you." So she drew me a map of where I was, back to the Beckham, and I walked in and I never
got such dirty looks in my life as I did when they saw me walk in that door. "Well, what
happened to you?" And I said, "They didn't want a child. They wanted a slave."
The next morning, the door of the room opened up and two men were standing in the doorway
and one of them-- I started here and looked up, like that, and I thought I would never quit
looking. That was, I thought, the biggest man I ever saw in my life. Probably was. It was my dad,
my foster-- would be my foster dad. And he said, "May we come in?" And the matron said, "Oh,
yes. Come on. This is Hazel, sitting right here on the floor." Says, "Get up, Hazel, and shake
hands." And I got up and he says, "You're going to be my little girl." And I says, "If you ever hit
me, I'll never get up." He says, "Dear, I'll never hit you. I'll never hit you. And he never did. He
never did.
When I got the letter that my mother had died, I just felt like the door had closed. I just walked
out of the house, walked down the road. It was cotton-picking time. Daddy had said I could stay
at the house. I did, but I didn't cry. I just felt, "Well, this is the end of something."
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And there was always that hope that she would get better and I would get a letter or maybe she
would come. Somehow or other, I still had that hope.
Reflect and Write:
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Compare Hazelle’s situation to Elliot’s. Which do you think was better? What similarities did
you find in their stories? Do you think Hazelle was happy?
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Claretta Carman Miller
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Sometimes it took several placements until a good match was found. Such was the case of
Claretta Carman Miller. Originally located in Colorado with her two sisters, she was neglected
by her parents. She and her sisters were put aboard an Orphan Train in search of a new home.
Claretta was separated from her sisters and assigned to a family who wanted only one child. The
family who took her in already had nine children. They merely wanted her for the labor she
would provide. About two weeks later an agent who worked for The Children’s Aid Society
visited her and immediately took her from the family. She had two more bad placements where
she was mistreated before she finally placed at the Carman farm. It took Mrs. Carman, a kind and
gentle woman, a year to nurse Claretta back to health. The Carmans proved to be loving parents
and Claretta finally found a home.
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Claretta was sent West at age nine. “We were hungry”, she said. She remembered about the
orphanage where she was housed, “I don't ever recall taking a bath in a tub of water. We slept on
old, dirty mattresses on the floor and the rats ran over our heads and through our hair lots of
nights and we'd wake up screaming with it. We didn't know where our parents were.”
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“We all had a certain place that we had to sit, at a certain table, and we knew our place. We just
ate our supper thinking the next day would be just another day, but the superintendent said, "I
have something to tell you." She said, "You're going to take your baths and you will be issued all
new clothing and tomorrow morning very early, you will rise and board a train to go to find a
new home."
Her memories of the “placing out” were, “It was a huge stage and we were all set up there in two
rows, a semi-circle. And the people were already down in the audience. They had been notified
ahead, the day before, that we would be there.
Of her new foster home she remembered, “I knew that this was going to be my home from then
on, but it seemed like it just kind of hit me when I got here that I had left everything behind,
which I had. I didn't have my sister anymore. I didn't have my parents anymore. I didn't have any
friends. They were total strangers. It just caught up with me all at once. But she was with me,
Mrs. Carmen. She never left me for a minute. And she helped me get into bed and that's when I
began to cry was when-- the emotion hit me, I think, when I went to get into bed. I still felt all
alone and yet I knew there was someone around me, but they were strangers. I didn't know them
from Adam.”
Reflect and Write:
Imagine being separated from your brothers and sisters. Think and write about what that must
have felt like.
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Lorraine Williams
Following her birth Lorraine Williams was placed in a New York City orphanage. She remained
there until she was four.
She spoke of her memories, “Each child was given a shallow tin pie pan to eat from. Dinner was
a bowl of thin soup with vegetables in it, and we got one ladle each. I was always hungry.”
“One day I got brave enough to ask, ‘Please, may I have more?’ I can still see the angry look on
the matron’s face as she hit my arm, telling me I could have no more. I did not cry. Orphans
learn not to cry.”
Lorraine Williams was sent West at age four. She and thirteen other children were bathed and
dressed in new clothes. They weren’t told where they were going. Agents felt it would upset the
children.
“The big day came and we arrived on a Sunday in Kirksville, Missouri, at the Presbyterian
church. We marched down the aisle, thirteen of us, and they would walk past us and you were
viewed. And that's a strange feeling. You'd never been looked at in that way before. You'd never
seen people looking all around you.
A man at the church pointed to four year old Lorraine and said he would be taking her. His wife
was ill and he needed someone to do the dishes. He insisted on taking her. Luckily, a kind couple
also asked if Lorraine could go home with them.
Reflect and Write:
Have you ever had to walk in front of a group of people and felt that “strange feeling” Lorraine
spoke of? What must it have felt like?
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As far as I have been able to research, my biological mother never made an inquiry. You'd have
thought maybe there'd have been a little ache in her heart to wonder whatever happened to me.
And if I die, should be fortunate to go to heaven, and if I saw her in heaven, I guess I would
speak and say-- and extend a hand and say, "My name is Lorraine and you're Marguerite, aren't
you." I would not say, "I am your daughter. I would leave that up there to her to put two and two
together. And unless she had a comment, I believe I would walk on because the true Mother and
Dad who loved me, cared for me in sickness and in health, were the ones that cared so much that
they legally adopted me. They loved me and they were my mother and my father and I think they
are the only two ones that should be called rightfully Mother and Father.
What do you think of Lorraine’s imagined conversation with her mother in heaven? What was
she feeling?
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Lee Nailings
At first, The Children’s Aid Society would release information to parents who got back on their
feet where their child was located. However, due to abusive behavior on the part of some
parents, the Society began to withhold information even from nonabusive parents. Such was the
case of Lee Nailing.
His father saw that Lee and his two brothers were placed aboard an Orphan Train. He gave Lee a
pink envelope with his address on it so that the boys could contact him once they were settled.
Lee put the envelope in his coat pocket to insure that he didn’t lose this precious information.
The Orphan Train matron instructed Lee to remove his coat in order to keep it clean while he
travelled. He explained to her that he was reluctant to remove his coat because he wanted the
envelope close to his chest. That night, he removed his jacket while he slept. In the morning, he
quickly checked for the pink envelope only to find it gone.
“I still remember the panic I felt,” Lee said. “I pushed on Leo, making him wake up. We both
began a frantic search all around the seat and on the floor. Nothing! I went through my jacket
again, felt in the cracks between the seats and under the window. But there was no envelope.”
The matron was standing over him and sternly asked him what he was doing. Although Lee
begged her to help him find his precious envelope she told him to sit down.
“Where you’re going,” she said, “you won’t be needing that envelope. You must forget about it.”
Lee remembers being struck by the truth. “She had taken the envelope and there was nothing I
could do about it. Absolutely nothing. Except hate her. That pink envelope had given me back
some hope. I can’t explain how defeated I felt with it gone. It just took the life out of me.”
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“I wouldn’t let anyone see me cry, but nights on the train I’d lie there with tears rolling down my
cheeks and my heart breaking all over again. First my mother (she died in childbirth and Lee and
his brother Leo were placed in an orphanage until his father could get back on his feet), then my
older brothers and my sister (they remained with the father while the boys were placed in the
orphanage…a baby brother, Gerald, was given to a family to care for but he too joined Lee on
the orphan train) and now my father again. How could I have lost so much?”
Sa
Lee remembers his father’s tears when he placed the three boys on the train. That memory
haunted him his entire life.
“By that time, there were some twenty, maybe twenty-five children left on the train, along with
my brothers and I. And we eventually wound up in a little town down in deep northeast Texas
called Clarksville, Texas. And we were lined up again there and examined and everything. And a
couple came by and picked up Gerald, who was only two-and-a-half years old. I don't suppose
the child had ever been shown any love or anything because when the lady bent over to talk to
him and everything, he just almost jumped in her arms and you could see him grab her around
the neck. And so they decided to take Gerald. There again, I-- I felt terrible because I knew I was
losing a brother right there. And they took Gerald over to the table, did the paperwork and he
was just happy as he could be until they started out the door and he suddenly realized that he was
losing his brothers. And he turned around and screamed right loud for his "bruvvers." And, of
course, that broke my heart again.”
“You didn't think about the years ahead of time. You're trying to think a day ahead of time and
you live in hopes that the good will come, but you doubt it, at the same time. Anyways, the
Naillings took me in and they took me, gave me a room of my own that was almost unbelievable
for anyone to have-- a boy that age to have a room of their own. The next morning we went in
for a huge breakfast and the breakfast was set in the main dining room, which was an honor. And
the prayer was most gratifying and it gave me a new thought on life, that maybe this wasn't so
bad, after all, that I'd kind of wait and see how things worked out.”
Reflect and Write:
How do you believe Lee felt toward adults? Imagine the heartbreak of losing his pink envelope.
Reflect on what that must have been like and share your feelings.
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The Coming of the Stork
The Foundling Hospital in New York City was responsible for sending “baby trains” west.
Created in 1869 by Sister Irene of the Sisters of Charity in order to place abandoned babies in
Catholic homes, The Foundling Hospital sent out its first baby train in 1873. The organization
was responsible for communicating quite well with prospective families. New parents would
arrive at the depot and receive a baby that had their family name pinned to it.
“Beats the stork all hollow,” one new parent was interviewed to say. “We asked for a boy of 18
months with brown hair and blue eyes and the bill was filled to the last specification. The young
rascal even has my name tacked on to him.”
Reflect and Write:
How do you view the placements of babies by The Foundling Hospital? Describe how you think
the new father felt.
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Bill Landkamer
When no placement occurred despite the many stops along the way, the children rode the train
back to New York. One such child who made several trips was Bill Landkamer. He only spoke
German as a young child. When the Landkamers finally chose him it was because Mrs.
Landkamer spoke German. Many orphans were the children of immigrants new to America.
Reflect and Write:
Compose a fictional story of how Bill Landkamer might have ended up orphaned.
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August “Hoot” Gibson
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Hoot Gibson, famous rodeo performer, actor, produces and director of cowboy films was an
orphan train rider. He lived in an orphanage in Brooklyn until he was nine years old. In 1923, he
rode an orphan train to Kansas. There he was given the name of the son of his foster family who
had died in World War I. Later he was placed with another family. He was given still another
name. When he signed up to fight in World War II, he returned to the name he was born with.
What do you think about your name? What if someone came along and changed it whether you
agreed or not? How do you think Hoot Gibson felt about his name?
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Katie Murphy
Katie Murphy was placed with an abusive foster family. During a yearly visit by an agent of The
Children’s Aid Society, she was able to share her experiences. She was able to be placed with
another family. She wrote back to The Children’s Aid Society.
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"Elkhart, Indiana, May 28th, 1865. Dear Friend: The place where I lived I did not like. They
whipped me till I was all black and blue. I told the lady (the agent) I did not like to stay there, so
she told me I might leave. I have a good place now. I hope you will write to me and let me know
if you see any of my folks in New York. I would give one hundred worlds like this if I could see
my mother. Katie Murphy."
Imagine what life was like for Katie Murphy. What if The Children’s Aid Society did not have
the policy of following up with their placed children each year?
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Annie Williams
"January 12th, 1862. Dear Mr. Brace: It is rather pleasant today for winter weather. I go to
school and enjoy myself first-rate. I would like to teach school when I get a good education. But
sometimes I have a great deal of trouble and woe. I build many air castles and before they are
entirely constructed, they tumble down in a heap of ruins. I suppose we must take life's journey
as it comes. Annie Williams."
Reflect and Write:
What did Annie mean by “air castles”? Have you ever had a dream that was destroyed? Can you
relate to Annie’s saying “we must take life’s journey as it comes”?
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Alice Bullis Ayler
At age nine, Alice Ayler and her four siblings were sent to The Children’s Aid Society because
their mother was reported to no longer want to care for them. Alice never found a loving home.
As an adult, she was quoted as saying, “I know I’m an overachiever…lots of orphan train riders
are. We want to show the world that kids like us can succeed, too. It’s tough because there was,
and still is, so much bias against homeless children.” Alice spent most of her life trying to prove
to others and herself that she was as good as anyone else.
My mother bore five children and she accepted responsibility for none. She just simply brought
us children into the world and then let the rest of the world take care of us.
Bad blood. That's what they used to consider it. We kids from New York were of inferior stock.
Bad blood is what's running through those veins and some people have bad blood and others
have blue blood. Well, the bad blood is supposed to carry the bad things down from your parents.
Through your life, all the bad things are supposed to come through that bad blood and you don't
have a chance to do better.
Reflect and Write:
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Do you believe that people have “bad blood” in them? Explain your thoughts.
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It hurt awfully bad, being separated from my family. But as I got older and realized, I would
have never stood a chance if they had left me in that environment, I would never have gotten to
do anything I was capable of. By them picking me up and moving me clear away from it, as bad
as it was afterwards, I got a chance to do what I was capable of doing, making something of
myself, being a good mother.
Reflect and Write:
Do you think Alice was better off being a part of the orphan trains? Why or why not?
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Reflect and Write:
Have you ever felt like you had to prove yourself to others? Imagine living in an unloving
family. Why do you think there might be bias against homeless children? Think about society’s
feelings toward the homeless. Write your thoughts.
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John Green Brady
I cannot speak of my parents with any certainty at all. I recollect having an aunt by the name of
Julia B –. She had me in charge for some time, and made known some things to me which I have
a faint remembrance. She married a gentleman in Boston, and left me to shift for myself in the
streets of [New York City]. I could not have been more than seven or eight years of age at the
time. She is greatly to be excused for this act, since I was a very bad boy, having an abundance
of self-will.
Reflect and Write:
What were you doing when you were seven or eight years old? What must it have felt like to be
left on your own on the streets of a big city? How would it have felt to be without any family?
What does a seven or eight year old need for basic survival.
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At this period I became a vagrant, roaming over all parts of the city. I would often pick up a meal
at the markets or at the docks, where they were unloading fruit. At a later hour in the night I
would find a resting-place in some box or hogshead, or in some dark hole under a staircase.
A hogshead is a large barrel cut open at the top. What must it have been like to sleep on the
streets of New York City? Do you think it was safe?
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The boys that I fell in company with would steal and swear, and of course I contracted those
habits too. I have a distinct recollection of stealing up upon houses to tear lead from the
chimneys, and then take it...away to some junk shop, as they call it; with the proceeds I would
buy a ticket for the pit in the Chatham-Street Theatre, and something to eat with the remainder.
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The pit of the Chatham-Street Theatre was where John Brady could go for entertainment. Do you
think it was odd that he would spend his money this way? What do you do for entertainment? Do
people need a diversion from life?
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This is the manner in which I was drifting out in the stream of life, when some kind person from
your Society persuaded me to go to Randall’s Island. I remained at this place two years.
Sometimes in July, 1859, one of your agents came there and asked how many boys who had no
parents would love to have nice homes in the West, where they could drive horses and oxen, and
have as many apples and melons as they could wish. I happened to be one of the many who
responded in the affirmative.
Reflect and Write:
What do you think life was like for John Brady at Randall’s Island? Do you think it was better
than being on the streets of New York City? Imagine being excited about apples and melons and
horses and oxen. Why do you think Brady jumped at the chance to go West?
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On the fourth of August twenty-one of us had homes procured for us at N–, Indiana. A lawyer
from T–, who chanced to be engaged in court matters, was at – at the time. He desired to take a
boy home with him, and I was the one assigned him. He owns a farm of two hundred acres lying
close to town. Care was taken that I should be occupied there and not in town. I was always
treated as one of the family. In sickness I was ever cared for by prompt attention. In winter I was
sent to the Public School. The family room was a good school to me, for there I found the daily
papers and a fair library.
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How do you think John Brady felt about being placed with his new foster father? How would
you have felt?
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How do you think John Brady felt about education? Support your opinion.
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After a period of several years...I had accumulated some property on the farm in the shape of a
horse, a yoke of oxen, etc., amounting in all to some $300.00. These I turned into cash, and left
for a preparatory school...I remained there three years, relying greatly on my own efforts for
support...I have now resumed my duties as a Sophomore [at Yale], in faith in Him who has ever
been my best friend. If I can prepare myself for acting well my part in life by going through the
college curriculum, I shall be satisfied.
I shall ever acknowledge with gratitude that the Children’s Aid Society has been the instrument
of my elevation.
To be taken from the gutters of New York City and placed in a college is almost a miracle.
Reflect and Write:
Do you think the Children’s Aid Society was beneficial to John Brady? Go back through the
passage and find support for your answer.
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Toni Weiler
Toni Weiler learned that she was an orphan train rider from a classmate. She had been placed in
her new home as an infant. She knew life with her parents appeared different. “We just never
bonded,” she said. “We weren’t alike. I always felt sad and lonely when I was a child. My
husband and I had eight children because I wanted a family more than anything in the world. I
know I was trying to fill a void in my life.”
You know, I was never invited to birthday parties. I would see other children going to birthday
parties and it really hurt. Children didn't want me. They didn't want to play with me. And I
remember, possibly in the fourth grade, I was walking with this girl and this mother came to the
screen door and she said, "Haven't I told you I don't want you to walk with her? I don't want you
to talk to her. Get away from her." And that's the way it was. And it was very hurtful because
sometimes I'd go home and look in the mirror. What was the matter with me? I didn't know.
You have to have something deep inside of you that will make you want to keep going. When I
went to school, they had a game they played. "Send in and send out" was the name of it. And the
width of the playground, they would line up and they'd go after people. Well, they wanted fast
runners, so I started running home and running back to school and running, running, running.
Wherever I went, I was running. And one day, I finally talked them into, "Please let me play. Just
please, just once let me play and go after somebody." That was all it took. I was in the sixth
grade. After that, they fought over who got me because I could catch anybody there was.
Nobody can understand the loneliness that an orphan feels. It's a loneliness-- you just don't know
who you are. You don't know where you come from. So there's that, with the combination that if
you could just only have known your biological mother, if you just could have seen her.
Reflect and Write:
Look at your own family. How do you know you are a vital part? What must it feel like to grow
up sad and lonely and feeling as if you didn’t fit in?
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One foster mother wrote back to the Society:
"Danville, Indiana, June 5th, 1865. You wanted to know if John Reyer is with me. He is with me
and always will be. If he were our own son, we could not love him more than we do. We have
given him our name. We call him Charlie Highland. He thinks we are his parents and we want
him to. I love him so much that it would break my heart to part with him. Mrs. Sallie Highland."
Poetry Connection
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The railroad track is miles away,
And the day is loud with voices speaking,
Yet there isn't a train goes by all day
But I hear its whistle shrieking.
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Travel
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All night there isn't a train goes by,
Though the night is still for sleep and dreaming,
But I see its cinders red on the sky,
And hear its engine steaming.
My heart is warm with friends I make,
And better friends I'll not be knowing;
Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take,
No matter where it's going.
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Compare/Contrast Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem, Travel, with the reality of the Orphan
Train riders.
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Music Connection
This is a song about a make-believe train. You can hear her lyrics sung at:
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http://www.songsforteaching.com/folk/wabashcannonball.php
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The Wabash Cannonball
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By the great Atlantic Ocean
on the wide Pacific shore
Heard the queen of flowing mountains
To the South Belle by the shore
She's long, tall and handsome
She's loved by one and all
She's a modern combination
Called the Wabash Cannonball
Chorus:
Listen to the jingle
The rumble and the roar
Riding through the woodlands
Through the hills and by the shore
Hear the mighty rush of engines
Hear the lonesome hobo squall
Riding through the jungles
On the Wabash Cannonball
Now the eastern states are dandies
So the western people say
From New York to St. Louis
And Chicago by the way
Through the hills of Minnesota
Where the rippling waters fall
No chances can be taken
On the Wabash Cannonball
Chorus
Many orphans were excited about a trip on the train. It was romanticized much like
in this song. It is interesting that they started their journey in New York and that
Minnesota was one of their stops. After listening to the song, write about the
feelings it evokes.
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Trains in Art
Bahnhof Saint Lazare in Paris
By Claude Monet
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America’s First Trains
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Their Origins and Early Developments
http://mikes.railhistory.railfan.net/r013.html
Reflect and Write:
Go back through the excerpts of the different orphan train riders and summarize important
details. How old were they? How were they treated? Was their situation positive? Provide
pertinent information.
Jessie Feit
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Elliot Bobo
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Hazelle Latimer
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Claretta Carman Miller
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Lee Nailings
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Bill Landkamer
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August “Hoot” Gibson
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Katie Murphy
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Annie Williams
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Alice Bullis Ayler
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John Green Brady
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Toni Weiler
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A Crowded Orphanage at Supper Time
The Baby Fold was another charitable institution involved in the placement of the very young
aboard orphan trains. Above, children are photographed while enjoying a cookie.
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Read the above news article and study its information. Answer the following questions:
1. Once the orphan train reached the town, where were the children taken to be displayed?
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2. What was the name of the agent travelling with the children?
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3. Was this the first orphan train to visit Auburn? Explain your answer.
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4. Which institution did Alice Bogardus represent?
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5. How many children were there to be placed out?
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6. Why was there a delay in the placement of three children?
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7. What was the age range among the children?
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8. Describe the response by the townspeople to the display of children. Were many people
expected? Explain your answer.
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9. Why was the second trip to Auburn planned?
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10. Describe the application process as well as what decisions were made in the placements.
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11. In the list of which children were placed with which family, do you see a name that shows up
three times? Do you think these children were related? If so, what must it have been like to be
split up? What rules would you make about these children and their future if you had been the
agent in charge?
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12. Describe the placements that were made in this town twenty years before. Was it successful?
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Nine Orphans Waiting to be Placed
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Above: Seven Orphans from The Children’s Aid Society
A group of orphans poses with their Children’s Aid Society agents.
It was reported in 1910, after a study conducted by The Children’s Aid Society, that 87 percent
of the riders were classified as having “done well”. Mary Ellen Johnson, executive director of the
Orphan Train Heritage Society of America (OTHSA), accounts for approximately 500 riders of
orphan trains were still alive in 1996. All of them were at least 70 years or older. Many are in
their late 80’s as of this report (2012).
Mary Ellen wrote, “I feel the riders are a tribute to Charles Loring Brace and his vision. The
placing out program…proved that putting orphaned or abandoned children in institutions didn’t
have to be the only option to leaving them on the streets or with unfit parents. Brace proved that
families would take the children in and give them homes. Even if they were required to work
hard for their new families, the children’s chances of growing to adulthood and becoming
productive citizens were much better than if they stayed where they were.” (p. 61-62, Orphan
Train Rider)
Reflect and Write:
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How do you feel about Charles Loring Brace’s orphan trains? Were they a success? Compare life
on the streets surrounded by squalor or overcrowded orphanages to what the orphan train riders
experienced after being placed with a family. What do you think about the orphan train
movement?
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Many orphan train riders went on to successful lives. Included were two governors, a justice of
the Supreme Court, two members of Congress, two district attorneys, judges, mayors, clergymen,
professors, bankers, lawyers, school superintendents, teachers, postmasters, engineers, and well
over 7,000 soldiers.
It is estimated that over 2 million people are the descendants of riders of the orphan trains.
Reflect and Write:
Create your own fictionalized account of three children riding on an orphan train and being
“placed out”. Draw from everything you have read in this unit.
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I Was Involved with the Orphan Trains
Who Am I?
1. I had a vision for the homeless and poor children of New York City.
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2. My father gave me an envelope with his contact information in it. I guarded it closely. I took
my jacket off for the night, and the next morning, the envelope was gone.
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3. I learned that I was an Orphan Train rider from a classmate. I always felt disconnected from
my family. I didn’t look like any of them. It hurt to know that I was adopted. It hurt more the fact
that I didn’t feel loved.
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4. I was chosen by a lawyer to come and live on his farm. I was treated as one of the family. If I
got sick, they took care of me. I received a great education and later became a governor.
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5. My mother bore five children and she accepted responsibility for none. She just simply
brought us children into the world and then let the rest of the world take care of us. People
thought we had bad blood and we would not amount to anything.
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6. I lived in an orphanage in Brooklyn until I was nine years old. In 1923, I rode an orphan train
to Kansas. There I was given the name of the son of my foster family who had died in World
War I. Later I was placed with another family. I was given still another name. When I signed up
to fight in World War II, I returned to the name I was born with.
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7. I rode the Orphan Trains many times. No one would adopt me because I spoke only German.
Finally I was chosen because my foster mother spoke German as well.
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8. Each child at the orphanage was given a shallow tin pie pan to eat from. Dinner was a bowl of
thin soup with vegetables in it, and we got one ladle each. I was always hungry. One day I got
brave enough to ask, ‘Please, may I have more?’ I can still see the angry look on the matron’s
face as she hit my arm, telling me I could have no more. I did not cry. Orphans learn not to cry.
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9. We were hungry at the orphanage. I don't ever recall taking a bath in a tub of water. We slept
on old, dirty mattresses on the floor and the rats ran over our heads and through our hair lots of
nights and we'd wake up screaming with it. We didn't know where our parents were.
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10. On the day that I arrived on the train, other couples offered to buy me. They were turned
down because they weren’t Catholic and I was being placed by a Catholic organization, The
Foundling Hospital. Perhaps I would have fared better with one of the other affluent couples. As
I grew up under the harsh conditions set by my foster family, I would see these early strangers
who offered to buy me and would wonder how life would have been different. They were always
kind to her unlike my foster family. My foster father abused me.
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The preceding information is the result of research gathered from letters, journals, diaries, and
interviews of orphan train riders.
Books and Web Sites of Interest:
We Rode the Orphan Trains (Houghton Mifflin) by Andrea Warren. The true stories of
eight riders and one of the agents who rode west with the children.
The Orphan Train Adventures (Bantam Books) by Joan Lowery Nixon. Each book
features a different fictional character who rode an orphan train. For middle grade readers.
Train to Somewhere (Clarion Books) by Eve Bunting. Fictional story about a little girl on
an orphan train who is looking for a home. Appropriate for early elementary readers.
Orphan Trains: An Interactive History Adventure (Capstone Press) by Elizabeth Raum.
Fictional story that gives the reader the choice of which paths to take. 3 story paths. 55 choices.
21 endings.
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Andrea Warren.com. The author’s web site includes excerpts from her books and
historical information about the orphan trains.
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Orphantrainriders.com. The official web site of the Orphan Train Heritage Society of
America includes history, interviews with riders, and ordering information for books and other
items of interest related to the orphan trains.
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The Orphan Train Heritage Society of America, a nonprofit volunteer organization, will
send a packet of materials to interested students and educators. To receive, send two first-class
stamps to: OTHSA, 614 East Emma Avenue, Suite 115, Springdale, Arkansas 72764-4634.
Phone: 479-756-2780. E-mail: [email protected].
Bibliography
The Children’s Aid Society of New York: Its Emigration or Placing Out System and Its
Results. New York: The Children’s Aid Society, 1910.
Fry, Annette Riley. “The Children’s Migration.” American Heritage Magazine,
December 1974, 4-10.
Holt, Marilyn Irvin. The Orphan Trains. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992.
Jackson, Donald Dale. “It Took Trains to Put Street Kids on the Right Track Out of the
Slums.” Smithsonian, August 1986, 95-103.
Johnson, Mary Ellen, and Kay B. Hall, eds. Orphan Train Riders: Their Own Stories,
volumes 1 and 2. Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1922, 1993.
O’Connor, Stephen. Orphan Trains: The Story of Charles Loring Brace and the Children
He Saved and Failed. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2001.
Patrick, Michael, Evelyn Sheets, and Evelyn Trickel. We Are a Part of History. Santa Fe,
NM: Lightning Tree Press, 1990.
Warren, Andrea. Orphan Train Rider: One Boy’s True Story. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1996.
Wheeler, Leslie. “The Orphan Trains.” American History Illustrated, December 1983,
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10-23.
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If you would like to know more about The Orphan Train Movement, feel free to write me at
[email protected] and request information concerning this subject.